John R. DelaneyNexia BridgeThe Nexia Bridge hub only works with Z-Wave products and requires a subscription, but it controls a variety of smart locks, thermostats, light dimmers, and activity sensors for a surprisingly affordable price.

The Nexia Bridge hub only works with Z-Wave products and requires a subscription, but it controls a variety of smart locks, thermostats, light dimmers, and activity sensors for a surprisingly affordable price.

Choosing a home automation system can be daunting and expensive if you're just starting out, but it doesn't necessarily have to be either of those things. There's a good chance you already have one or more components that can be controlled using a smartphone, but you'll need a hub and an app to tie them together. One such hub, the Nexia Bridge, uses a tastefully designed app that lets you control a variety of electronic door locks, thermostats, and light switches, and it'll only cost you $59.99. However, unlike offerings from Revolvand SmartThings, the Nexia only works with Z-Wave-compatible devices like the Kwikset Contemporary SmartCode Deadbolt—Z-Wave is just one of several competing digital home protocol standards—and you'll have to pay a monthly subscription fee to control your home remotely. Enrolling devices can be challenging, too.

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Design and InstallationThe Bridge looks like a small router, measuring 5.0 by 4.8 by 1.4 inches (HWD), and has a matte black finish. There's an LED on the front that glows solid blue when the bridge is using AC power, and flashes blue when it's using battery power. Around back are a server light and a Z-Wave connectivity light, Plus and Minus enrollment buttons, an AC power jack, and an Ethernet jack. On the bottom of the bridge is a 9-volt battery compartment (the battery is only used when enrolling devices).

To get started, you need to create a Nexia account, which requires information such as your name, address, phone number, a user name, and a password. You then have to designate a house for each bridge (you can have multiple dwellings on a single account) and subscribe to a plan. A basic plan costs 99 cents per month, and you can add a 1GB video storage plan for an additional $1.99 per month.

The folks at Nexia Home Intelligence sent over a variety of devices for testing, including the Bridge, a Schlage electronic touch screen deadbolt lock, a light and appliance power module, a lamp dimmer module, a door/window sensor, a motion sensor, and a home outdoor camera.

Installing the bridge was easy enough in my tests. In the Your Devices screen of the Web app select Nexia Home Bridge and enter your bridge's MAC ID. Then connect the bridge to your router, power it up, and wait for a connection to be established. The process took less than a minute. I had to wait an additional four minutes for a firmware upgrade, after which I was ready to enroll devices.

To do so, select the product type on the left side of the dashboard and click Add a Device. Choose the specific model from a drop down menu and follow the on-screen directions. Each device has to be within 6 feet of the bridge during the enrollment process. Pressing the Plus button on the bridge begins a scan for devices, and within 30 seconds or so the bridge will find your device and add it to the system.

For the most part, enrolling devices was quick and easy, but the process for the lock and camera was complicated. To enroll the lock, I had to unplug the bridge, insert the 9-volt battery, and carry the bridge to the lock, which was installed on a door on the other side of the house. I selected the lock from the Security and Sensors tab, pressed the Plus button on the bridge, and entered the enrollment code on the lock's keypad, but each attempt failed. After three tries, I called tech support and was told to repeat the process several times, but each attempt was unsuccessful. I was eventually able to enroll the lock, but it required two more phone calls and a system reset.

Enrolling the camera was also problematic, as it would not recognize any wireless networks, prompting yet another call to tech support. A Nexia technician had me hit the camera's reset button and restart the enrollment process; on the third attempt, it finally recognized my Wi-Fi router. Each time, I had to unplug the bridge, install the battery, and take it to where the camera was installed (outside above my back door).

Nexia Bridge

Bottom Line: The Nexia Bridge hub only works with Z-Wave products and requires a subscription, but it controls a variety of smart locks, thermostats, light dimmers, and activity sensors for a surprisingly affordable price.

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About the Author

As a Contributing Editor for PCMag, John Delaney has been testing and reviewing monitors, TVs, PCs, networking and smart home gear, and other assorted hardware and peripherals for almost 20 years. A 13-year veteran of PC Magazine's Labs (most recently as Director of Operations), John was responsible for the recruitment, training and management of t... See Full Bio

Nexia Bridge

Nexia Bridge

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